Need to counter doctored narratives to run down India’s growth story: Vice President

Dhankhar described India as the land of opportunities and investments, and highlighted the role of effective communication in further enhancing these strengths.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday highlighted the need to remain alert to effectively counter the doctored narratives to run down India's growth story.

Interacting with a group of Indian Information Service (IIS) probationers at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas today, Dhankar asked them to be "real protectors of democracy and nationalism."

Praising the role of IIS officers in fighting misinformation during Covid-19 pandemic and in addressing vaccine hesitancy, Dhankhar told young officer trainees to remain ever alert and vigilant as things get viral in a split second these days.

He also cautioned that everything can be whitewashed and can "go down the drain" if people are not vigilant against such tendency. India is rightly reckoned in the world as the land of opportunity and investment.

Describing the 'dumping of information' as 'another way of invasion', he called for bold and effective steps to neutralize it.

The Vice President also underlined the need to remain alert to effectively counter the doctored narratives to run down India's growth story.

"We no longer have the luxury of delayed response," he told young officers.

His remarks come against the backdrop of a political debate triggered by the BBC recently airing a two-part documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and India. The documentary was blocked by the government on social media platforms.

In the last two days, India's tax authorities carried out a "survey" operation in BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion.

Without naming any organisation, the vice president said that in the last decade or so a narrative was set forth by a global news house that sought to "lay claim on its reputation".

The narrative was that someone possessed weapons of mass destruction and, therefore, an attack was just for the sake of humanity. "Things happened, no weapons of mass destruction...," he said in an oblique reference to the Iraq war. "Now, if India is on the rise, sinister designs are there to set afloat a narrative...we have to be alert.... Examine and you will find those reputations are not firm. Those reputations have failed humanity in recent years," he said.

The Indian Information Service is a Central Group 'A' Service whose members work as the media managers for the Government of India. The IIS officers, in their various capacities, act as a vital communication link between the Government and the citizens of the country by way of disseminating information and communicating various Government policies and schemes to the public at large.